Kirinyaga County Independent governor candidate Wangui Ngirici has filed a petition at the Kerugoya High Court that seeks to nullify Kirinyaga County Governor Ann Waiguru’s victory.
Ngirici through her legal team on Wednesday filed copies of the documents at the Kerugoya High Court which were received and stamped at High Court.
In the August 9, 2022 general election Kirinyaga County saw eight candidates battle it out with Waiguru of United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party was declared the winner with a total of 113,008 votes against her competitor Wangui Ngirici who garnered 105,677 votes.
Other candidates were Jubilee party’s Charles Kibiru who garnered 22,065 votes, Safina’s Peter Gitau (10,166), Narc –Kenya’s Bedan Kagai (1,751), KADU Asili’s Chomba Ndau (532) and TSP’s Joseph Ndathi (3,837).
The former Kirinyaga woman representative who has enjoined his running mate Eliud Wanjau as her co- petitioner has sued Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC), the County Returning officer, Governor Ann Waiguru and her deputy David Githanda.
The electoral agency has been listed as first respondent while the county returning officer, governor and her deputy are listed as the 2nd, 3rd and 4th respondents respectively.
In their affidavit, Ngirici and Wanjau have dismissed Waiguru’s victory citing massive malpractices in the election process that according to them were non-compliant with the constitution.
They said the illegalities were facilitated by the IEBC, a body which should be independent, impartial, neutral and efficient.
“The electoral process was not verifiable and the IEBC abdicated its constitutional role by conducting elections that were not based on the universal suffrage and free expression of the will of electors, was not free from influence, was not transparent, verifiable and accurate,” reads a part of the petition.
Ngirici and Wanjau also questioned the authenticity of the results declared in Gichugu owing to what they term as ‘abnormal high voter turn-out’ in the constituency. They argue that in the other three constituencies, voter turn-out was remarkably low ranging from between 60 per cent to 75 per cent as contrasted to Gichugu which registered an 81per cent turn out which in turn enabled the manipulation and inflation of the figures in favor of Waiguru.
Further they accused the county returning officer of relying on some form 37A that were either not signed or stamped by the presiding officer in declaring the third and fourth respondents as the winners.
Among stations said to have been affected by the anomalies are: Mukoigo Tea buying centre polling station 1, Karumandi Tea factory polling station 1, Ithiga Ria Njuki primary school polling station number 2, Karucho primary school polling station number 1 and Mwania Njau primary school. In the stations, the forms 37A are said not to have been stamped with the IEBC official stamp thus unverifiable and unaccountable.
The petitioners further anchored their case on claims of voter bribery in some stations, use of same agent for one candidate in different polling stations, voting outside hours an exercise they claim went on up to 10 pm in some polling centres like Kiamugumo Primary school, alteration of form 37A, exclusion of the petitioners’ agents during voting and counting of votes and lack of transparency in the voting and counting.
The matter now awaits direction from the court and as to when the respondents will file their responses for the case to kick off.
